There were some hopes that U.S. and Iranian officials would try to advance the diplomatic process over the weekend, but neither country sent a delegation to Islamabad. This leaves an uncertain dynamic in which the hot war is paused, but hardly any meaningful efforts are underway to work toward a resolution.

Iran’s foreign minister is expected to travel to Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin on Monday, and the conversation is likely to be of interest to the White House. With this in mind, Trump spoke to Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich on Sunday morning for a live telephone interview, and the host asked whether he’d spoken with the Russian leader recently. “I have,” the president replied.

As the exchange continued, Heinrich added, “What was the last conversation you had with Putin?”

“Well, I don’t want to reveal that,” Trump replied, failing to explain why he believes their conversation needed to be kept secret.

Let’s not forget that the White House routinely discloses interactions between the president and world leaders, and Trump frequently uses his social media platform to boast about his conversations with foreign heads of state, including recent talks with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

But asked about his latest chat with Putin, Trump didn’t want to “reveal” that, for reasons he also didn’t feel the need to share.

If this sounds at all familiar, it’s because it happens with some regularity. During an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity just days after Trump’s second term began, the host asked if he’d spoken to Putin. The Republican replied, “I don’t want to say.”

Weeks earlier, Time magazine asked Trump, “Have you spoken to Vladimir Putin since your election?” All he had to do was say yes or no. He did neither.

“I can’t tell you,” Trump replied. “I can’t tell you. It’s just inappropriate.”

There was, of course, nothing “inappropriate” about the president disclosing conversations with foreign leaders, which, again, he does all the time.

This has been a hallmark of his political career. It was in early May 2016, roughly a year into his GOP candidacy, as political observers were just starting to consider questions about Trump and his relationship with the Russian leader, when the then-candidate was asked whether he’d spoken to Putin. “I don’t want to say,” the Republican replied.

A day later, Trump sat down with Fox News’ Bret Baier, who followed up on the question. “Yeah, I have no comment on that,” the future president replied. “No comment.”

The Fox host, apparently surprised, said that one of the things people liked about Trump was his willingness “to answer any question.” The candidate didn’t seem to care. “Yeah, but I don’t want to comment,” he added.

It was an early indication that Trump’s relationship with his benefactor in Moscow was, to understate matters, problematic. After all, the Republican hardly ever responded with “no comment” to any question on any subject. He loved (and continues to love) to comment, even when he has no idea what he’s talking about. But asked whether he’d had direct interactions with Putin, the candidate suddenly had nothing to say.

Matters have not improved over the years. In 2019, The Washington Post reported that Trump and the Russian leader had a series of undisclosed chats during the Republican’s first term in the White House. Bob Woodward’s latest book also alleged that Trump and Putin had direct conversations “as many as seven times” after he left office after his 2020 defeat. (The Post’s and Woodward’s reporting was not independently verified by MS NOW.)

The Kremlin denied the accuracy of the claim, as did Trump initially, though just a few weeks before Election Day 2024, the Republican boasted that it would be “a smart thing” if he had secret communications with the Russian autocrat.

Evidently, those attitudes persist.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

The post Pressed on latest Putin interactions, Trump prefers secrecy to transparency appeared first on MS NOW.

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